Murder weapon or diet aid?

WAS it a murder weapon or nothing but a means to “lose weight”?

Thandi Maqubela’s defence lawyer Marius Broeksma yesterday introduced a countertheory in the courtroom, which garnered mixed reaction – among them raised eyebrows and giggling.

During his cross-examination of crime scene investigator Andries Pretorius, Broeksma questioned him over whether he was aware that it was “common practice” for people who wanted to lose weight to put Cling Wrap around their bodies while they exercised.

He did not, however, specify whether the same product had been found at the acting judge’s flat or whether someone in the Maqubela family had been using the product at the time of his death.

“I can assure you that if you go on the internet, you will find it is common for people to wrap Cling Wrap around certain parts of their body while they’re exercising to lose weight in certain areas,” he said.

Pretorius responded jokingly, saying: “Thank you very much. I, myself, need that.”

Broeksma then handed up the trial’s first physical exhibit: a body toning kit by Forever Living Products, the health products company Thandi Maqubela and her co-accused, Vela Mabena, worked for.

Among the several items in the box was a roll of Cling Wrap.

Broeksma pointed out that with this product, Cling Wrap was used as part of a weight loss programme.

It is the State’s case that Judge Maqubela was suffocated with a three-layered piece of Glad wrap, which police found in a waste-paper basket in the main bedroom of the acting judge’s Bantry Bay flat.

The body was discovered in the same bedroom.

It has previously emerged in court that the acting judge’s DNA was found on the plastic, as were his wife Thandi’s thumb print and palm print.

Maqubela, along with Mabena, stands accused of murdering her husband on June 5, 2009. But she disputes that her husband was murdered, contending that he died of natural causes.

Broeksma did not complete his cross-examination of Pretorius, maintaining that he could not do so until he had seen the Cling Wrap.

Prosecutors and police investigators have been trying to locate the key exhibit for almost two weeks. However, State advocate Bonnie CurrieGamwo said yesterday that while they had found a packing number, they were still looking for the exhibit.

Broeksma also questioned Pretorius over record-keeping procedures at the police’s criminal records centre in the CBD.

The trial is expected to continue today.